Cartridge-shell-feeding machine.



H. D. HODGE. QARTRIDGE SHELL FEEDING MACHINE.

- APPLICATION FILED we. a, 1907.

Patented Oct. 4, 1910.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

W/TNESSES Lg /NVENTOH I VWQ; JI gwflw H. D. HODGE.

CARTRIDGE SHELL FEEDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 6, 1907 Wmw Patented Oct. 4, 1910.

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WITNESSES our (N43,, (KM WWW H. D. HODGE.

' CARTRIDGE SHELL FEEDING MACHINE. APPLIOATION PILEDAUG. 6. 1907.

91,99; "Patented Oct. 4, 1910.

I 3 SHEETB-SHEET 3.

$1 g a v W/7 WESSES lNVENTOR the dial and its supporting base. Fig. 4-

and State of Connecticut, have invented cerwith the mouth ofthe shellalways and insar HOWARD D. HOIJGE,

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F BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO NQBIELS EXPLOSIVES COMPANY,LIMITED, 01? GLASGOW; SCOTLAND.

CARTRIDGE-SHELL-FEEDING MACHINE.

SDQLQWE.

Application filed August 6,

To all whom it may concern:

r 7 Be it known that I, HOWARD 1). Homes, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident .of Bridgeport, in the county of Fairlield tainnew and useful Improvements in Cartridge-Shell-Feeding Machines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in automatic cartridge shellfeeding machines, and it consists in certain details of construction tobe more fully set forth in the following specification and such featuresbelieved to be new and novel to be particularly pointed out in theclaims.

To enable others to understand my inventiQm'reference is bad to theaccompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1.* represents an upper plan view of the machine. Fig. 2 a sideelevation and broken sectional view of the floor. Fig. 3 is an enlargedcentral sectional view of is anenlarged broken sectional View of theshell feeding tube.

The machlne is adapted for automatically taking shells from. a hopperand feeding them to a loading machine situated on a lower plane.Machines of this character are usually located in a room or story abovethe story where the loading machine is situated.

The object of the present improvement is to feed the shells to theloading machine variably uppermost. To this end, the construction andoperation of the machine are as follows:

.1 is the hopper for holding the shells in bulk.

2- is an endless carrier or band provided on its exterior with thebuckets between which the shells are located while being carried fromthe hop er to the machine. 8 is a horizontal shaft carrying the feedband pulley -5, and -G is an upper feed band pulley mountedon the shortshaft 7"tournale in the bracket 8, and 9 is an idler on the shortshaft-10*, which shaft is also journaled in said bracket. 11-? is anopen chute through which the feed band runs from the hopper, and -l2-isan idler for said band'journaled in the chute.

$pecification of Letters Patent.

13- is the dial journaled on a projection v Patented (Pete, into.

1907. Serial No. 387,827.

of the stationary support -14 and is held in a rotatable ositionthereonby the cap -15. This ial is caused to rotate ata. slow, rate ofspeed through the medium of the following mechanism, viz: 1G is a.vertical driving shaft journaled in the brackets -l7 and 18- of theframe 19- and carries the grooved pulley -20 and belt 21-, which beltruns in the grooved edge of the dial. 22 is a bevel gear on this shaftmeshing with the bevel geiu' -22- mounted on one end of the shorthorizontal shaft 23- j ournaled in thebracket 18. 24 isanother bevelgear on the opposite end of this short shaft meshing with the bevel"gear 24ton the end of the long horizontal shaft *3.

25- is an outer guard secured to the dial support 1& and it projectsabove the dial a distance greater than the diameter of a shell.

26 is an inner guard secured to the outer guard by the bridges 27 sothat, the space between theseguards form a channel way for the shellsfor the purpose presently to be more fully described. The outer edge ofthe dial l3 projects into this channel and is allowed to rotate underthe inner guard 26.

The upper surface of the dial is made preferably crowning or slightlycone shaped so that the shells a,-, whenthey fall from the endlesscarrier upon the dial, will naturally roll toward the outer edge andagainst the inner guard 2(3-, in which position it is easily maintainedby the outer beveled edge li:l-* of the dial. The length of this bevelededge, from its commencement on the face of the dial to the inner face ofthe guard 26-, being less than the diameter of a shell will prevent twoshells riding abreast of one another on this beveled edge.

As before mentioned, the purpose of the two guards 25 and 26 is to forma channel way for the shells to enter and be conveyed to a dischargingpoint presently to be described. This channel way is of circularconstruction beginning atthe point -b-, Fig. 1- and terminating ataboutthe point -0. Between these two points the channel way will bedesignated as (Z-, and from the point cthis channel way continuedstraight with a downward pitch or inclination and is designated as--e.While the sides. or guards, of this channel Elli way -eare but acontinuation of the guards and 26 they will, to avoid confusion, bedesignated as -25 and -26.

As the shells are dropped upon the dial from the endless carrier, theygravitate, as before mentioned, against the inner guard 26 and, whilesome will lie on the mcline .13 of the dial, others will lie against theshells thus located in the true path of rotation so that, when the pointc, Fig. l' is passed, and there being no inner uard until the point b isreached, the ful width of the outer incline -13 of the dial is exposedso that two shells can ride abreast. To prevent two shells entering thechannel wa at the point b, the brushes 28 an -29 'see also Fig. 3, whichbrushes are mounted on the short vertical shaft 30 journaled in thebracket -3lattached to the inner guard 26-. This shaft is rotatedthrough the medium of the pulley 32 on said shaft; pulley -33 on thevertical shaft -16 and the belt 34.. Asthe shells reach these brushes,the lower brush will throw back the outer shell of the two ridingabreast,-

while the upper brush will remove the mp per one of two shells that maybe riding on top on another so that, onl one shell at atime is permittedto enter t e mouthof the channel May *d'- at the point -b As the shellsare carried through this channel way while restin on the Juter edge ofthe dial, they are maintained in a recumbent or horizontal position bymeans of the wire ,35strung throng the bridges 27 leave the main channel-dthey will fal by gravity down the in cline channel -e, one at a time,upon the platform 36 Figs. 1.and 4 where the shell so located 1s pushedoff into the opening 37 as follows: 38 is a-slide mountand when thely edin the block -39 and 4;0 is a lever Should, however,

not dropped entirel out of the channel, and

pivotally supported on the pin 41'-. One

to avoid its being ruised by the slide, the

spring will present a flexible resistance and check the further forwardmovement of the slide which will remain in its halted position until thethrow of the cam 4 3 has returned said slide, when, before its next 4.-5is a.

forward movement, the shell willhave been ejected from the channelbyanother shell falling against it and, as the platform is' only wideenough to accommodate one shell at a time, there can be nothin toprevent the shell being pushed off the p atform once it is fairly seatedthereon.

. As it is imperative that the shells be de-' livered head foremost tothe loading machinenot shown-in the room below, they will be properlyturned by means of the -wedge shaped bridge 47 Figs. 1+ and 4, WhlChbridge spans the opening 37 and is located just below the platform 36+and is central with said opening. Now, when a shell drops into the oening it strikes the upper narrow edge 0 the bridge and, the head beingthe heaviest, will naturally tilt downward and drop in that positioninto the receivin tube -4=8- whence it will be delivere into theconveyer bar of the loading machine-not shown-in the story below.

To avoid bruising the shells by a long drop from the upper end of thedelivery tube-48- to the machine on the floor below, this tube is filledwith shell on first starting the machine and,iasthe shell feedingmachine is driven from the loading machine-not shown', through themedium of the shaft -l6-, it is quite evident that the two machines willbe so timed that the delivery tube will always remain full, therefore,when a shell is deposited onto the conveyer bar of the loading machine,another shell will enter the upper end of said tube,

from the shell feeding machine. The side walls 49 Fig. 1- are madelaterally adjustable so as to accommodate shells of different lengthswhen said shells are resting on the platform 3 6. Any tendency tooverfeeding shells on the dial is counteracted by the central hole -50,communicating with the inclined chute -5l, whereby the excess oroverflow is returned to the hopper 1. r

From the foregoing description it will on the dial in any positioneither recumbent onerect and many quantity until a certain point 1sreached when they are made to as- .readily be seen that shells may bedelivered same a recumbent position" and are con" tinuously deliveredhead foremost through a tube to a loading machine or machine of likecharacter.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a cartridge shell feeding machine a rotatable dial having anincline face and v a beveled edge of greater pitch or inclination thansuch face, an inner and an outer stationary guard spaced to form achannelway through which the shells are carried by the dial anddelivered outside thereof,

said inner guard made shorter than the 1 adapted to feed the shells in apath at right outer guard so as to form a mouth for the channel-way,means to prevent the entrance of more than one shell at a time therein,and means to prevent the shells assuming an upright position while insaid channelwav.

2 In a cartridge shell feeding machine, a shell receiving tube having anarrow bridge spanning the same and central therewith and located belowthe mouth of the tube, combined with shell feeding mechanism angles tothe axis of the tube so that when the shell contacts or falls on saidbridge, it 15 will be tilted by gravity and fall head fore- Y most intothe tube.

Signed at Bridgeport in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticutthis 5th day of Aug. A. D. 1907.

HOWARD D. HODGE.

Witnesses: m

Geo. D. PHILLIPS, ;JOHN B. CLAPP.

